After several interventions by GEARnet, a national recommendation was issued by the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation, regarding the synthesis of the Equity and anti-discrimination Committees of Research Centers and Independent Research Institutes (Recommendation 95003 - 02-12-2025). According to the Recommendation, the members of the Committees may comprise not only permanent staff, but also temporary staff regardless its type of work contract, and including postdocs, phd candidates, and other collaborators! Thus, a more inclusive and fair representation of staff in these committees is guaranteed, providing space for everyone's VOICE to be heard!

On Friday, 5 December 2025, GEARnet organised its 5th workshop at the ATHENA R.C., with a rich programme open to the personnel of all its members. In particular, a talk by Ms Stella Palaiologou was hosted, presenting the work of the Secretariat of Equity and Human Rights with emphasis on activities related to gender violence. Furthermore, a series of interactive seminars on balancing work and caring responsibilities, gender violence and third age, and empowering mothers in promoting cyclic economy, were conducted by the non profit organisation, Challedu. Last, our colleague Despoina Kaneti (EPISEY) presented on intersectionality and its dimensions in the Gender Equality Plans of Research Centers and Institutes! 

Within the 4th GEARnet Workshop, our Network organised its first hybrid, interactive seminar on Mental Health. 

The seminar was presented by Ms Moly Katsouli, a research associate in Athena R.C. Her talk was entitled "Why work burnout is not (and shouldn’t be) a badge of honor." The seminar invoked a lengthy and engaging discussion both from online and on site participants which continued offline in the following days too! 

Watch the presentation in the GEARnet Yutube Channel, here! 

On Wednesday, July 7, 2025, GEARnet organized its fourth onsite workshop at ATHENA R.C. The workshop focused on Health and Safety at work. The workshop was the host of hybrid seminars on the topic, open to all members of staff of the Research Centers and Institutes of the country. The introductory seminar was given by Mr Fragkiskos Foskolos, internal auditor in CTI Diophantus. The seminar introduced the audience to Health and Safety at Work issues (what they are about, why they are important, the legal framework and what should one do). The presentation was followed by a lengthy and engaging discussion! Watch the seminar in GEARnet's Youtube Channel, here! 

On Wednesday, 19 Μαρτίου 2025, GEARnet organised a webinar on Neurodiversity. The webinar was host and coordinated by CERTH and in particular by Dr Maria Karani. The presenter was Ms Foteini Midoucha, Psychologist, MSc, BCBA, a scientific associate in Autism Larissa. The talk was entitled: Neurodiversity: What is it, Symptoms, Types, Strong points and Challenges" και was a great introduction to the idea that human brains may develop, organise and function differently as part of a normal evolution. Watch the seminar in the GEARnet Yutube Channel, here! 

8 March, 2025

Read GEARnet's Press Release for this year's International Women's Day! 

Devoted to all members of the Equity and Anti-Discrimination Committees that insist volunteering their personal time and efforts for a better research environment for all, including also some first gender disagregated data on the staff of Greek Research Centers and Independent Research Institutes! 

On Wednesday, January 29 2025, GEARNET organised a Webinar on Digital Accessibility. The Webinar was hosted and coordinated by Dr. Magda Chatzaki, from FORTH. The keynote speaker was Dr Stavroula Ntoa, a Principle Research at the Computer Science Institute of FORTH. The seminar was entitled: "Digital accessibility in products and services for people with disabilities".  The talk was a highly informative presentation of digital accessibility issues and the international status quo! The Seminar is available to watch at GEARNET's Youtube Channel,  here!

On Monday, December 2, 2024, GEARnet organized its third onsite workshop at NCSR "Demokritos". The workshop focussed on preventing and combating gender-based violence. The highlight of the workshop was a hands-on training event on gender-based violence within research organizations, led by Ms. Vasia Madesi, in the framework of the GenderSAFE project. The training involved familiarisation of the participants with guidelines, tools and best practices in addressing gender-based violence, while particular emphasis was also placed on  the development of targeted policies and effective protocols for reporting and managing incidents of gender-based violence and harassment in research organizations.

On Wednesday, 11 September 2024, the GEARnet President participated in a round table discussion on Female Leadership in Research Organizations. The Hellenic Foundation for Research & Innovation organized the event as part of its official collaboration with the  US National Endowment for Humanities. The discussion particularly focused on the reasons behind the low participation of women in leadership positions. Among others, work-life balance challenges have been indicated as pivotal in women's decisions even to consider applying for a leadership position, which indicates the tight interconnection between these two themes.

On Wednesday, October 16 2024, international day of Personal Pronouns, GEARNET organised its 2nd Webinar on Gender-Sensitive Language. The Webinar was hosted and coordinated by Dr. Anastasia Tsagkarakou and Dr. Alexandra Sintori from ELGO-DIMITRA. The keynote speaker was Prof. Dimitra Kogkidou, Aristototle University of Thessaloniki and Coordinator of the DEI network of Greek Universities.  The seminar was entitled: " Going beyond language sexism - a priority for a modern and inclusive society" and actually sparked a long discussion among the participants! The Seminar is available to watch at GEARNET's Youtube Channel,  here! 

On Monday, 01 July 2024, the Athena Research Center hosted the second GEARnet, onsite workshop! Discussions and presentations focused mostly around gender (and other types of) violence at the workplace and the development of a common Action Plan by all members of the network. The day closed with an interactive  session for planning the Network activities and objectives for the next academic year (2024-2025)!

On Monday, May 13, 2024, GEARNET organised its first webinar on Gender Sensitive Language. The Webinar was hosted and coordinated by Dr. Anastasia Tsagkarakou and Dr. Alexandra Sintori from ELGO-DIMITRA. The keynote speaker was Dr Angeliki Fotopoulou, Computational Linguist, ILSP/Athena R.C. Term clarification and examples formed the main part of the talk that aimed at setting a common understanding of the basic issues involved in this topic! Read more here! 

GEARnet has now its own Zenodo community In this space, network members gather material for publication or restricted use (for members-only), such as articles, presentations, technical reports, white papers, as well as templates and exemplaries for D.E.I related surveys, action plans and protocols.

On Friday, 30 June 2023, the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens hosted the first GEARnet, onsite workshop! The day was filled with presentations from all working groups of the Network, as well as panel discussions, interactive sessions among groups and plans for the next steps!

GEARnet has contributed to article 58, of the new law 5019/2023 which renders -for the first time- the formulation of Gender Equality and Anti-discrimination Committees in greek Research Centers and Institutes compulsory. The law describes the composition of the committees as well as their duties!